Victorian Age: Vampire is "an historical setting sourcebook for Vampire: The Masquerade" according to the back cover. The cover blurb goes on to reference "a tradition of gothic literature", and this is closer to the mark.
It is a supplement rather than a separate game (although it will be followed by a number of further supplements), covering the late Victorian era (1880-1897) of the Vampire: The Masquerade setting. It contains less than twenty-five pages of rules adjustments and statistics, the rest being background reflecting the World of Darkness as it was then.
Victorian Age: Vampire was first revealed in August 2001, when the project outline by writer and developer Justin Achilli was published at white-wolf.com Rereading it now, it has hardly deviated from this template at all. Indeed, the recommended reading for Storytellers is a very slight update of that for writers in the outline. Since its release, it has been a source of discussion among fans waiting for the book.
Following the Prelude fiction readable here, a suitably overwrought short story of a vampire's decision to bring a mortal into the darkness, Chapter One: The Empire After Nightfall provides a broad overview of vampire society at the time. How the Camarilla and to a lesser extent the Sabbat worked in their heyday is discussed here, as are the roles of independent clans, other supernatural beings, monster hunters (and the practical difficulties they face), and some of the era's achievements by those often-overlooked denizens of the World of Darkness, human beings. The pieces on how the sects behave may be of most interest to Vampire storytellers with no real desire to run Victorian games, as it shows how they function at their most reliable, and provides an insight into the ideals of Camarilla and Sabbat elders who were active in the period.
Chapter Two: The Clans covers each of the vampiric clans (the character types of the Vampire line) in a fair amount of detail. Most of these are not too different from their modern interpretation as of the Revised Clanbooks. For example, it is noted that the Toreador are more diverse than just a clan of artists and pretty things. Others are quite different. The Gangrel, who have always been the outsiders of the Camarilla and finally left it in large numbers in the Revised modern setting, are here given an active role within the sect. Each of the Camarilla clans is given four pages of detail, as is Clan Tzimisce of the Sabbat. The Lasombra, leaders of the Sabbat, receive short shrift with only three pages. Of particular note is the treatment of the independent clans, self-sufficient mini-sects. These receive six pages of detailing, enough to run a game all about them with access to the relevant Clanbooks. The writeup of by far my least favourite clan, the Followers of Set, manages to make them actually fit into the setting, rather than sticking out like a sore thumb as they do in the modern game.
Chapter Three: Characters is the main rules section of the book, discussing changes to character generation for the setting. Background traits and Abilities are rewritten to fit (Computer, rather obviously, does not appear on the Victorian character sheet), other adjustments are made and some Merits and Flaws (the Storyteller System's advantages and disadvantages) are introduced or altered as required. The rules here also include an essay on the Humanity trait which is central to the Vampire: The Masquerade line, and why it is so much more common than the other forms of morality practised by vampires.
Chapter Four: Chasing Sunset (Geography) is presented in-character, by a ghost no less. Following a boxout concerning the meanings of England, Britain, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, the chapter provides a whistle-stop tour of the World of Darkness of the late Nineteenth Century, and in forty-one pages provides inspiration for games set all around the world. Minor asides of real and World of Darkness history enrich the setting, and fans will appreciate the various asides and nods to details of the game. For instance, one sidebar provides the third explanation for the Daughters of Cacophony that I have seen and the piece on Paris may feature a signature Vampire character in a new way, while the section on Cairo contrasts the iron hand of the British Empire by day with the chaos and conflict of the native and colonising vampires by night.
Chapter Five: Storytelling is a toolkit of advice for using the period and, more, its literary traditions in gaming. As noted in the chapter introduction, "the sensibilities of Victorian Age: Vampire are built almost entirely upon those of the Gothic novel". It provides advice on using the tropes of Gothic fiction, from difficult journeys and ruined castles to living automata and evil twins, on running Vampire with less dice rolling than usual or none at all, on the taboo subjects of sex and death that both fascinated the Victorians and on the building of dread.
Chapter Six: Antagonists is the second "rules" chapter of the book, covering templates for a variety of character types and advice on ways to use them. Ghosts are given due prominence, as are vampire hunters and members of secret magical societies. Faeries are the dangerous and complex beings of the lore of the time, as they should be. This gives more detail to non-vampiric threats than is common in Vampire, but this is due to the appearance of these supernatural beings within the Gothic form.
An afterword by Justin Achilli explains his intent for the book and his hopes for it as a tool for storytelling. An index (which seems to work), a character sheet and some advertising for other books in the Vampire line follow.
In style, the writing is florid in places (although less so than in some early essays on playing Vampire), and not all of these are in-character. An attempt to sustain mood and tone has been made, with some though not unqualified success.
Physically, Victorian Age: Vampire is a reasonably weighty tome, as well printed and bound as I expect from a White Wolf hardback. There are a few typos here and there, but no sign of Page XX (the lack of proper page references) and nothing that damages understanding of the text.
For art, Christopher Shy provides chapter frontispieces, and these are printed less darkly than they usually are in Vampire books so their detail is clearer. Indeed, their lightness intentionally provides the effect of foggy streets and faded photographs with the unbalanced lighting common to the period. Matt Mitchell's pencil work here is far superior to his ink work in previous Vampire books, I think. Guy Davis's clan portraits border on caricature in places, and will probably have fans wondering if some (certainly not all) depict signature characters from the Vampire gameline. He also provides sidebars which play with archetypal vampire imagery which the setting encourages. Richard Thomas provides borders, clan logos and presumably the cover in the form of wrought iron gates. Everyone else acquits themselves well here.
In all, I was among the fans looking forward to Victorian Age: Vampire, and it has been worth the wait. The mixture of setting detail and storytelling advice encourages the running of games in the period and, as this was its intent, the book is a success. The stylistic advice can be used beyond Vampire for any game in the mode of Gothic fiction. I can see it inspiring Victorian Mage games, for instance, as well as darker villainy than usual in Castle Falkenstein. Vampire fans should certainly come away from it inspired.
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