Art: I didn’t think the art would matter to me all that much, but it does. Some of it belongs in comic books (and not the good kind), some of it is good art, but totally inappropriate to the themes that should be portrayed. The Clan and Road splat art are good examples. While the art itself isn’t terrible, most of the pictures just don’t fit what I think the mood of the writing is. One artist, I can’t be sure which, has the idea that vampires should be portrayed as bald, featureless and having some kind of scar-tattoos that remind me of Queen Amadalia or M:tG artwork. Fantasy is a good thing, but so is moderation. Some artists in this book ignored the second part.
Chapter One: The first chapter is, in my opinion of course, the best chapter. It might even have been separated into two, but that’s an editing choice and it works out as one. The first half of the chapter focuses on the nature of Cainites and being a monster. This is the best presentation of the material I have seen. The process of the Embrace’s physical, mental and spiritual changes are discussed. We get to see just why vampires are selfish, greedy creatures. The Beast is given space to be examined, and we finally understand why old Cainites have such a hard time remaining human. Bravo to whoever wrote this section. Chapter one also covers the society of medieval Cainites. We get our normal run-of-the-mill paragraphs on things like the Traditions, the levels of Cainite society (Childer, Neonates, Ancillae, Elders, Caitiff, and Autarkis), the Princedom and the idea of Domain. Nice, neat, and well-done sections. Punishment is touched on, mainly the bloodhunt and three Ordeals (Fire, Beast and Light) that you don’t want to have your character put through. The positions that exist in Cainite Feudalism are explained to us. Knights serve Barons, who serve Princes, who serve Lords who serve the Methuselah Monarchs. Simple. Fealty, why and how it works, gets a couple paragraphs. The Ashen Priests and the Roads that they teach are noted here due to the political power that they hold. We do have some Dark Ages sects, Inconnu, Order of the Bitter Ashes, Cainite Heresy, Prometheans and Furores (Anarchs) all make an appearance. A five page historical essay written by the Cappadocian signature character Constancia in the form of a letter to the Dracon is placed in the middle of the chapter, where it doesn’t exactly fit. Right after that, the War of Princes is explained. Five small sections provide us with information on current goings on that relate to the War, a nice bit of setting. Short bits on four of the largest Cainite Courts as well as paragraphs on the smaller ones (Why the Tzimisce holdings are not a major Court is truly a puzzle) precede the Lexicon.
Chapter Two: The Clans. Not much is new. All the Stereotypes are sadly reduced to views on High and Low clans in general and three or four other clans in specific. This is something I’m none too happy with, but I can accept since we get a tad more actual information. The old sections on Current Doings and Background are missing, but vital points have been incorporated into the splats anyway. Haven and Prey makes the splats better by giving some insight into the actual life styles of the clans. The Cappadocian weakness now becomes worse as they age, a change I am not in favor of, but can understand. Of all the splats, the Toreador have the best. Finally they are presented as something useful. This splat almost makes me, a devout Toreador-hater, want to play one. The Low Clan introduction pages give us a nice view on the Tremere. According to most Cainites, the Usurpers are not a clan, but a nasty bloodline. The Salubri’s fall is given a bit of detail. Bloodlines (which are supposedly a low-clan only thing) have one paragraph each in a side bar. Much better then ignoring them entirely, I have to applaud this. The Lhiannan even manage a mention in the discussion of some of the Courts earlier and anyone who’s read CBR: Gangrel will notice a mention of the possible origins of the Lhiannan and Laibon in the Gangrel splat. Assamites do indeed have their three castes, which makes them much more playable. And the Ravnos splat doesn’t even use the word “gypsy” at all. They are finally playable right out of the corebook.
Chapter 3: Roads are one of my favorite parts of Vampire in either game line. And now, they are a huge part of the Dark Ages setting. Turned into semi-religions with active political power and the promise of some sort of organization, the Roads now offer role-playing and story opportunities like never before. Two Modern Nights Paths have been translated into the DA environment. The “Other Roads” call out lists both the Via Noctis and the Via Mutationis. Wondering which Auras these ‘new’ Roads will have should keep the WW forumites busy for a while. All of the Road Splats do a good job of presenting their philosophies as both interesting and playable. The art, as I’ve said before, is terrible. Most especially the Road of the Beast and the Road of Sin. That drags the mood down considerably, but the information is no worse off. The idea of an Aura for each Road is one of the best parts of the new edition. The followers of the Roads each exude different feelings that people around them respond to. Normally subtle enough to be only RP devices, at extremes of faith however they provide a systematic effect that actually gives a reason (other then Torpor) to increase your Road rating and to fear closeness to the Beast.
Chapter 4: The rules chapter is only eight pages long. It doesn’t need to be any longer, everything is there. It might have made more sense to simply take it into the Systems chapter, but that is probably only be me.
Chapter 5: Character Creation. Something everyone loves to do. Very basic, almost exactly what we’re all used to. There are a few new additions. Eleven “templates” are provided to help new players create characters more in keeping with the dark ages then they otherwise might do. Some might find this restrictive, but I like it a lot. An example of character creation provides a good example of a Ravnos. Bravo again on making them playable. Natures and Demeanors haven’t changed at all, still good. Attributes no longer have specialties. I don’t really see why not, but I don’t feel the loss. Abilities do have specialties, and they work entirely differently. Instead of taking them only at level 4, you can buy specialties with freebie (now called Bonus) points at any level of the ability and get an extra die to use in rolls where your specialty applies. Even better, you can have more then one specialty, allowing your characters to focus on specific parts of an ability at early levels. For catchall skills like Commerce, Academics and Crafts there are Fields of Expertise. You don’t just have Crafts, you have Crafts – Sewing. This makes the catchall abilities a lot more believable. We have three new Abilities making their appearance. Legerdemain is slight of hand, ‘magic tricks’ and pick pocketing for example. Commerce is the ability to buy and sell with a dash of street smarts thrown in for flavor. The last new Ability is the Theology Knowledge, which makes a lot of since in a time where religion is such an important aspect of life. Herbalism is gone, apparently absorbed into Hearth Wisdom, Occult and Medicine, and Science is missing as well. Backgrounds are standard with Domain being introduced as well as the ability for a coterie to pool their background points. Both are very helpful. Blood pool, willpower and experience are all standard. Maturating point information has been added for those ST’s who enjoy centuries of playing.
Chapter 6: Here are the “kewl powerz” of DA:V. The optional rule of “Clan Secrets” is not something I enjoy, but some will like it. Basically it makes learning out of clan Disciplines into a huge ordeal, involving blood drinking and amazingly steep penalties. Blood Sorcery is explained, no matter then normal but that isn’t surprising. Mortis (my personal favorite) has become a sort of proto-Necromancy. In fact, according to the developer Mortis and Necromancy are two names for the same thing. Mortis has three paths, but only four Rituals. The paths are great, and the rituals are handy, but more would have been nice. Thaumaturgy has a new path added, one dealing with the faster movement of troops and supplies. Why it’s there, I have no idea. The space could have been put to better use as Mortis rituals or setting information. Thaumaturgy also has an abundance of Rituals, again causing me to wonder why the newest discipline is so prolific when Mortis, thousands of years old, is shorted. Obtenebration still uses the old Nightshades power and Celerity blood spending hasn’t changed from the last DA book. Serpentis, Quietus and Vicissitude all have slightly changed rules. Serpentis’s powers have all been changed to Revised, as has the third power of Quietus. We still have Diablerie-in-a-can for level 5 though. Vicissitude has new rules for ‘fixing’ yourself after a nasty visit to the Tzimisce, which can be less or more strict then those of Masquerade. This chapter is well done, with few issues to cause problems.
Chapter 7: Our wonderful systems. Examples are Dark Ages, rules are Masquerade. Simple, quick, and utterly recognizable. No problems here. Hunting has become a dangerous thing if you rely on your rolls, as the difficulties in anything but the worst places are very high. Combat is great, Revised and wonderful. The Combat table is pathetic. Jackob’s review (went away sadly) has already informed you just how very wrong the weapons table is. Pray your ST’s aren’t slaves to the printed word. A mace, a cudgel and a club all have the same statistics. Beware axes and slings, for they will kick your ass. A very nice section on various diseases and poisons follows the basic damage information. We’ve added at least two new Derangements to the list, Saint Vitus’s Dance and Visions. Both like good possibilities for role-play, especially Visions. Everything else in the chapter is your basic information. Road switching is more in-line with Modern Nights then the old DA, but that I can forgive. Changing your soul isn’t easy after all.
Chapter 8: Storytelling information, basic fare. Notice that we get lots of that? Well it’s a good thing since all the information is worthy of reprint. There’s even a bit of setting (which some have said is vastly lacking) in the front of the chapter. Not much to say here, I’m a player generally.
Chapter 9: Our servants and our enemies. Yay. Ghouls get their basic information, along with a table showing the maximum ratings they can achieve in disciplines based on their master’s generation. Six, count ‘em, six Revenant families appear in this section. One, the Vlaszy I have never heard of. Dracula’s family is notably absent, but I’m not keen on when they were exterminated so that could be why they aren’t here. Still, I’m very impressed that the Revenants are included at all. Thralls, the Blood Oath’ed, Dominated or Presence’ed servants, get three paragraphs, and don’t need more. Our favorite mortals, the Blessed are here. This is your bit on True Faith and what it can do. Holy Ground, Exorcism, the powers of Faith, holy objects and relics, all right here. The Inquisition, Knights Templar, the Church in general and “other faiths” have sections as well. We have demons, something I’m not too happy about. The Forces of Hell don’t really mesh with my views of the World of Darkness. But there’s nothing terribly bad here. Lupines, Wizards, Ghosts and Fae are also included. The call outs with “common” and “informed” knowledge help a lot with being able to show your players exactly what they are ignorant of when playing.
Appendix: Merits and Flaws. I love em, some hate em. Oh well, they are here. 13th Generation is the lowest you can go, since it is a requirement that they take the Cannot Embrace Flaw as well. So that’s why we haven’t got any real Thin Bloods in the DA. Religious Prohibition from (I think) the LS 3 book found its way into this list. As did the Baali’s blood-curse on the Assamites. There are a few Road-related merits and flaws such as Apostate, Initiate to the Road, Weak Aura and Potent Aura. Others like Crusader, Outspoken Pagan Heretic and Oath Breaker are interesting social possibilities. Arcane Resistance is still here, but now it’s only for one Blood Sorcery at a time, unless you purchase more expensive versions of the merit. The last section is a Bestiary, which is very good. We’ve got Vozhd, Szlachta, demons and the Mortis-created zombie warriors and servants. Oh, and normal animals too. Very good material. It lacks the DA-related detail of the Dark Ages Companion Bestiary, but that isn’t too keen a loss.
Summery: A good book. The setting information is there, a bit sparse but present in a scattered form. The art really is terrible, but what we need is in here. The changes made are almost all good, and I can’t think of any huge complaints, except the art. It really does start to bug you. All the clans have been made playable, the Disciplines have been smoothed out system-wise, and the info on Cainite nature is the best yet presented.
Go to forum!
(Due to spamming, old forum discussions are no linked.)